ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Serum glycated albumin (GA) is a glycemic marker reflecting the average serum glucose values for the previous 2 weeks. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of serum GA as a glycemic index complementing glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in children and adolescents.

Methods: Fifty-four children and adolescents with diabetes mellitus (DM) and 98 children and adolescents without DM (Non-DM) were enrolled. The correlation between fasting glucose concentration (FG) and GA compared to HbA1c was investigated in Non-DM subjects. And, the correlation between mean glucose concentrations (MG) and GA compared to HbA1c were investigated in DM subjects. Factors affecting the relationship between GA and HbA1c (GA/HbA1c ratio) were analyzed.

Results: In DM subjects, strong positive correlations were observed between MG and GA (r=0.636, P=0.003), between MG and HbA1c (r=0.716, P=0.001), and between GA and HbA1c (r=0.860, P<0.0001). The correlation coefficient between MG and GA did not differ from the correlation coefficient between MG and HbA1c in DM subjects (P=0.811). DM subjects whose BMI SDS is ≥2 had lower GA/HbA1c ratio in comparison with DM subjects whose BMI SDS is <2 (2.21±0.39 vs 2.66±0.37, P=0.001). In Non-DM subjects, there were no significant correlations between FG and GA (r=0.110, P=0.284), between FG and HbA1c (r=0.089, P=0.385), and between GA and HbA1c (r=-0.040, P=0.700). Non-DM subjects whose BMI SDS is ≥2 had lower GA/HbA1c ratio in comparison with DM subjects whose BMI SDS is <2 (2.23±0.22 vs 2.38±0.22, P=0.003).

Conclusion: The usefulness of GA is comparable with HbA1c in reflecting glycemic control in children and adolescents with DM. GA is affected by obesity in children and adolescents with or without DM.